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Sales Talk Editorial

Sales Talk Editorial

Author: Andreas Wassenaar
Date: 2014-08-22
Two 34-year-old Aussies are the latest techies to become billionaires according to Forbes.com. If the names Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes were unfamiliar, they are now well exposed in the world of successful information age start-ups that have grown their company called Atlassian that specializes in developing online business software tools like "JIRA", a product that helps companies manage projects and workflow for their development and IT teams.

 According to Forbes, their services are used by more than 35,000 companies worldwide, including BMW, American Airlines, Cisco, Facebook and Citigroup. The two founders met while studying at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. Unsurprisingly they were not inspired after completing internships within the corporate work environment and in 2002 decided to start on their own with the only finance available from a credit card. Interestingly they only focused on R&D and without any sales and marketing component to their business sold their product on-line.

 After landing American Airlines as a client their business took off and they currently have an income stream of US$200m per annum, 800 employees which is expected to grow by 30% in the near term and offices in Sydney, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Yokohama and Manila. This type of exponential growth would have been hard to imagine a generation ago. If there is any doubt in your mind that we are firmly entrenched in the information age, Google Forbes' list of the world's billionaires under the age of 40. This list is dominated by the founders and investors in technology start-ups, like Facebook. 

Even the co-founder, Drew Houston, of one of my favourite tools, Drop Box, has made this list as a new-comer at a relatively meager US$1,2bn, next to heavyweights like Mark Zuckerberg who has a net worth of US$28.5bn. It is fascinating how the world is changing. It got me thinking of how the new generation of tech-savvy always-on consumers will buy property. One thing is for sure, it will be different to how it has been in the past. As a real estate industry we already know we do not advertise in print media for buyers but rather for sellers who (still) like to see their properties showcased in print. 

Buyers however are on-line and have access to information that in many cases may be even more detailed than that presented by the estate agent. For those agents that do not adapt quickly enough, they will be extinct sooner rather than later. We can expect to see the average age of estate agents plummet as the smarter younger Y-generation embrace the profession as an opportunity to earn above average income for extraordinary work and service delivery. 

Those stuck in the rut of mediocrity will soon we outplayed by the innovators and focused. With all this change happening around us, at an ever-increasing pace, is there anything that will remain the same? To this I would answer an emphatic yes! People will always choose to transact with those that they like and trust. In this way, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

For further information and an interactive analysis of this article follow my blog: andreaswassenaar.blogspot.com.

Andreas Wassenaar
Seeff KZN Chairman
Principal - Seeff Dolphin Coast